Standard Conventions
by Blue-with-purple-polka-dots
Summary: Possible MU Spoilers. Possible AU. Sulley, all around lazy jock, has a secret. He loves to attend conventions. He loves to dress up for them and he loves making his costumes himself- which are utterly fantastic too by the way. This year he decides to go as Thor, but when he hears of a 'Loki' attender with an equally fantastic costume, who it is surprises him. Gen. Oneshot.


**Summary: **Possible MU Spoilers. Possible AU. Sulley, all around lazy jock, has a secret. He loves to attend conventions. He loves to dress up for them and he loves making his costumes himself- which are utterly fantastic too by the way. This year he decides to go as Thor, but when he hears of a 'Loki' attender with an equally fantastic costume, who it is surprises him. Gen. Oneshot.

* * *

A/N: I'm from the UK so no- I haven't seen the movie so I have no idea if this thing is in character or even plausible given the time frame. So sorry if it isn't. I tried. It wouldn't let up and I couldn't wait. Not my best but ah well, hope you like it.

This is inspired by the original film though. It's based on the fact Sulley somehow managed to whip out a really convincing costume for Boo in like, one night with a chair and lamps and maybe whatever else was in his apartment. Am I the only person who noticed? By Asgard, Sulley is pretty talented it seems- I really doubt Mike helped out with it at all somehow!

While I think it would be silly for monsters to have the same exact media as us given what they think of us perhaps they just have equivalent Marvel comics (and Norse myths come to that) in this. The costumes are more based on the Avengers/Thor movie though here than any comics so yeah, sorry- I'm a bad geek like that. Also I've never attended conventions myself either so take from this what you will.

* * *

**Standard Conventions**

It was the perfect cover in some ways. No-one could possibly suspect this particular hobby of his. His little secret. Anyone who would have would have been laughed at if they'd even suggested it. Or ask if Art had been a little too free-flowing with a certain special substance of his.

Heck on some level he couldn't blame them. Sulley could barely be bothered with researching for a _term paper_- even if he did genuinely love Scaring. Who would possibly suspect, or even wildly guess that the guy was perfectly capable- of his free will! To research the costumes of comic book characters to their exact detail and painstakingly recreate them for himself?

In some ways he supposed he had his mother to thank. Little James had, well, always been a _big_ kid. And being big meant being clumsy with your feet or hands came with its own set of problems other monsters didn't have to take into account.

So in the end she'd set him with not only piano classes (which he had lovingly despised for many years and wouldn't really appreciate them until he was much older, as with most kids) but also even set about the task of teaching him how to do something else: to sew. Just because he was all set to be a Scarer didn't mean he couldn't learn other things. At least it worked out better than ballet. (Even years later he shuddered at the memories of that).

So long as he did become a Scarer his father had added gravely. But even he admitted it could be a useful skill.

At first little James P Sullivan had insisted that he hated it. Even more than the piano lessons with the teacher whose breath smelt like tripe (and not the good kind either) and who seemed to snap at every mistake even though she had like fifteen arms to his two. After all he was a _guy_ and even at eight years old he felt there was something fundamentally wrong with all this.

This had more or less lasted until his mother and he had both set about the task of creating something extra special- a costume for a Birthday party he was attending. Perhaps it was that little part of him which enjoyed showing off too which was even present then, but seeing all the eehs and ahs at his costume actually made him feel pretty special. It wasn't anything that outstanding perhaps- just a pirate costume- but he'd made it himself (and the girls had thought that amazing, and even some of the guys thought it was pretty cool). His mother had helped- but she'd been insistent he'd do most of the work.

It wasn't long after that that he caught the bug.

He kept it quiet though, all the same, when he got older. His comic book obsession was also something which, while he wasn't as adamant about hiding, he didn't really reveal either unless someone asked. Don't ask don't tell and all that, that was his motto. But suffice to say when he heard of a place where he could combine both these things he'd been overjoyed. He'd finally found his people.

Even if they were mostly nerds. They weren't that bad- heck a lot of them could even understand the idea of keeping such things under wraps be it from parents who didn't understand their hobby or more 'popular' friends at school. He was fine with them.

Even if most of them were nerds and he _totally_ wasn't at all.

_Huge_ nerds some of them at that.

This year, his fourth ever Convention at Monstropolis (MonCon), and first one since starting MU, he was going as Thor, from the Avengers (and obviously) Thor comics. He was determined that it would be his best one yet and had even worked on it during the Summer rather than risk trying to make it at University. Instead it was all ready, buried deep in his closet- though in such a way that it wouldn't become creased. It was utterly perfect.

It didn't do to get caught out or to rush the thing after all.

* * *

Sometimes the best thing about wearing a costume was that it was like slipping on a new identity. Even for Monsters, where body types were more distinct there was something immensely _freeing_ about pretending to be someone else.

And Thor was someone who was a lot of fun to be. He was even pretty close to him in terms of personality he felt but not _completely_ similar so as to keep it fun. He could roar, he could shout, he could stomp and it was all perfectly in character. What he loved best however was sometimes seeing people in great costumes in some way _connected_ to his. He'd just high fived a girl who had an excellent female version of the costume of _Captain Monstroplian_- she even had her tentacle like hair done in a way which reflected the 1940s (and Sulley thwacked one guy who was getting fresh , something which she clearly wasn't comfortable with ,on the back with his trusty hammer- He'd eventually got the message).

He'd also noticed quite a few excellent Iron Mons as well- the guy was popular as a character he gave him that. He'd also met two other Thors (though his costume was of course, much better). It was then however that he heard of someone else with their own talents. The _one_. The one he'd been searching for.

"Oh gods are you with that Loki guy from earlier?!" a guy dressed as the rather obscure villainous character called Mirror Mon said appreciatively. "You both look _great_!"

"No mortal I came alone to this plane!" he boomed causing others to turn around and laugh, "Now where on Midgard is my brother so I may embrace him?"

Oh he loved this, this was too much. He'd been hoping to run into a good Loki! Chuckling, the guy pointed him in the direction he was to go with one of his many tentacles. "Just round the corner Thor! Go get your brother!"

"Thank-you for your assistance!" he roared again, swirling his cape as he went.

"Woo!" yelled someone and laughed.

When he turned the corner, past the last booth, he had to scan the area at first but then he finally spotted him.

His back was turned, and he was pretty thin (not to mention small) and he seemed to be alone and eating a burrito come to that, but despite this even from this angle he could see it really and truly was an excellent costume. He had his own cape (green of course), a staff which was pretty much perfect looking as well as having the greatest Loki helmet he had ever seen with its trademark large horns. It looked like the kind of thing which could poke your eye out with! Had he specially made it? Had he gotten help with it?

Bracing himself in delight he thundered up to him:

"_**BROTHER!"**_ her roared appreciatively raising his arms into a victorious fist pose causing the other Con attender to jump and squawk before turning around.

And Sulley froze into that position and looked shocked himself, because he suddenly realised who it was. He didn't know them very _well_ admittedly. Heck he'd probably not know his _name_ were it not for a certain green eye ball, but despite the fact they weren't _that_ far from the University he somehow didn't expect to see anyone he knew. Let alone the guy who had eventually replaced him in a certain fraternity.

"Boggs?" he whispered lowering his arms.

"Oh no!" 'Loki' said and quickly 'vanished'.

Silence.

"Uh Boggs, you do know you're still 'there' right" he said a little quietly after a moment. "Um your costume is still there anyway."

He quickly de-blended back into focus and wrung his hands as he looked up at him.

"Uh pretty cool effect though. Uh and costume too by the way." He scratched the back of his head and grinned awkwardly. When real life hit con life it was always awkward- or so other attenders kept saying. Sulley suddenly grew to feel a little self-conscious himself. He didn't want anyone to find out about this. Not if he could _help_ it anyway. Though perhaps this had been inevitable. He sighed, rather resigned to at least a few weeks of teasing in his foreseeable future. _Oh well_.

"PLEASE don't tell Johnny!" Randy suddenly yelped.

"Uh… what?"

"Don't you DARE tell him do you hear me… oh gods you're going to tell him, don't tell him. I'm NOT A NERD!"

He grabbed him by the sides of his plastic armour and started shaking him.

"Wow, _cool_ it Boggs" he put his hands on his shoulders to steady himself before shaking his head to clear his mind.

"Promise!" he snapped, and almost looked like he was trembling. With anger or something else he couldn't say. At that moment he had more pressing matters he was paying attention to anyway.

"Johnny and I aren't exactly on speaking terms you weirdo! You'll ruin my costume!" he said. "Let go!" He knew that quite easily he could force him if he came to that but he'd rather they didn't get them both thrown out after all. Besides, this guy was hardly a threat.

"Promise!" he repeated.

It was at this stage that Sulley felt a little bit sorry for him. Just a little bit anyway. I mean he could sympathise with the idea of keeping this under-wraps- after all he hoped to do so too. Even though there was something…. Unsettling about how Randall was going about it.

Talk about an over-reaction. Honestly Boggs needed to learn social skills _stat_.

"Look," he pushed his arms firmly aside and placed his paws on his two upper shoulders he went half on one knee to bring himself to his equal height. He knew how to Scare. He knew how NOT to Scare too in some ways for that reason. "If it means that much to you little buddy I promise okay? I promise I won't say anything." he smiled at him.

"I'm not little…." He muttered, flicking his tail, looking away and then back again. "And I'm _not_ your buddy."

Sulley didn't fully register the click until he saw the flash.

"Thanks fellas!" a female monster called streaking by with a camera, flapping the photograph that had come out automatically.

"Hey!" Sulley yelled after her, sounding annoyed. "Come back here!"

He then glanced back at the smaller monster who seemed to be panicking. (Once again, talk about an over-reaction. What was _wrong_ with this kid? It was embarrassing sure but not the end of the world. Sulley had long since come to the conclusion that while he'd prefer it to be under wraps he could laugh it off if he got caught. It wasn't that big of a deal! Johnny never came here so it wasn't like he'd know. Talk about paranoid.)

"Nononononono." He kept saying, shaking his head as he wrung his tail in his hands. "I'm caught. I'm doomed."

"Randy?" he grappled with the name he was sure Mike had mentioned.

"Randall." He said shortly. Sulley had to struggle not to smile: at least he'd snapped out of it even if it was fairly hilarious to see someone so small glare at him like that. Still he rolled his eyes.

"Fine, _Randall_. Relax we'll get it back- I saw her badge- she's staff. Of course she should _know_ better for that reason," he said sounding cross. "But it'll be easy to get it back, come on I'll show you where."

At first he'd hesitated, but then he followed him, both their robes billowing as they went forwards.

"You've been here before?" he said as they moved through the crowd. 'Mirror Mon' whooped when he saw them come around the corner and Randall shrank back a little but then quickened his pace to keep up.

"Fourth one!" Sulley said sounding proud. "Uh… keep that under your hat would you? It's a great hat by the way"

Randall coughed and looked away. "Uh it's my first one con to well, this one but I went to one once before a couple of years ago um back in Fright City. It was great but, uh it was too far to go again. At least that's what my Nan told me."

"Oh that's too bad."

Awkward silence resumed as they made their way forwards.

"Um, thanks, about the hat I mean. "

"No problem- great cape too by the way, just the right length too, it can be easy to mess that up or go so overboard so you can trip on it.."

"Uh, yeah."

He gave Sulley a curious look at that. Maybe he didn't quite believe Sulley had made his costume himself or wasn't sure. But whatever, maybe it was better that way. Why let on to even more embarrassing secrets even if they were both currently in the same boat?

* * *

"I am _so_ sorry," the other staff member said as she looked across the wall where many other photographs of MonCon attenders were pinned up "Tasha should know better than this." She said waspishly glaring at the other green girl who grinned sheepishly.

"I'm sorry Lydia… I… I couldn't resist! I mean they were just so perfect!"

"Yes, yes their costumes are great but there's such thing as self-control you know! First two rules of Cons- no touching and no photos without asking!" she shook her head, her many eyes still locked into a frown as she handed Sulley the photograph.

"It's not _just_ the costumes sis- it's like their _expressions_ which really sell it!"

Sulley gave her an odd look at this, but she simply shrugged her many shoulders and gave him a huge smile.

Randall had heaved a sigh of relief at this. "Well that's that over with." He then scurried off, seemingly satisfied as he took it to put it in his pocket- but instead the thing flew into the air in his desire to get away.

"Hey wait! Randall! It fell out of-" he called out, but as it happened the little guy was pretty fast all in all though clearly he'd sewn in less than adequate pockets. "Huh." He looked down at it. "Well I guess I'll keep it then." He shrugged.

It didn't take him long to forget about the incident in question. After all, there had been more important things to worry about in University than the fact you had a small awkward moment with someone you barely knew. Even if that person had become important years later, and not really in a good way.

When he finally was able to recall it, it was the start of just many questions- but not just for Randall himself.

But that's really another story for another time.

* * *

**10 plus years later**

The illustrious and graceful CEO of Monsters Incorporated sneezed in the dust and banged his head as he stood upwards in his mother's attic.

"Ow!" he hissed as the box he'd been holding fell onto his foot. Good grief did he have to collect so many comics when he was younger?

Not for the first time, Sulley felt like going back in time and smacking his past self in the head. If it wasn't for the fact his head was currently throbbing.

Usually this urge existed because he was pretty embarrassed about how he'd acted to others. Now of course the injured party was him. Typical. He nursed his foot for a moment before rifling through them, trying to straighten them all out.

It was then that he noticed it when he picked one comic up which had flapped open to its centre page. It was slightly bent in the top right corner but otherwise it was in pretty much perfect condition, wedged right in the middle of one of his favourite Thor comic books.

He glanced at the photograph. For some reason the words of the girl who'd taken it rang out in his mind even after all this time:

"It's just not the _costumes_ sis- it's like their expressions that really sell it!"

He looked at it again. It was rather strange but despite being younger (and thinner he thought wryly) and the fact that what he remembered most was a time when he could be a complete and utter jerk he seemed to have an expression on his face which was all too him even _these_ days. All too Thor too, from what he remembered of the comics. A comforting, almost brotherly look was on his face as he gripped 'Loki's' shoulders as if desperate to calm him down.

But it was Randall's expression which really sold it (had the guy really ever been that _small?_) there was loathing there yes- just as he'd expected, and resentment too as he looked up at him but in some ways he could almost see something else. Something that looked a little like … longing.

Perhaps the dust was just getting to him.

After all, they really were excellent costumes.


End file.
